QuotesThe language of the totalist environment is characterized by
the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human
problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding
phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and
finish of any ideological analysis. In [Chinese Communist] thought reform, for
instance, the phrase "bourgeois mentality" is used to encompass and critically
dismiss ordinarily troublesome concerns like the quest for individual
expression, the exploration of alternative ideas, and the search for perspective
and balance in political judgments. And in addition to their function as
interpretive shortcuts, these cliches become what Richard Weaver has called
"ultimate terms" : either "god terms," representative of ultimate good; or
"devil terms," representative of ultimate evil. In [Chinese Communist] thought
reform, "progress," "progressive," "liberation," "proletarian standpoints" and
"the dialectic of history" fall into the former category; "capitalist,"
"imperialist," "exploiting classes," and "bourgeois" (mentality, liberalism,
morality, superstition, greed) of course fall into the latter. Totalist language
then, is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon, prematurely
abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly judging, and to anyone but its most
devoted advocate, deadly dull: in Lionel Trilling's phrase, "the language of
nonthought." [Book
1963] Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing"
in China, by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D

At around the time of World Autism
Awareness Day this year, I appeared with a
colleague on the Wright Stuff television
chat show on Channel 5. Before going on air,
the host Matthew Wright joined us in the
"green room" and said that he had been told
by the show’s lawyers that if Dr.
Wakefield’s name was mentioned, he had to
say that Wakefield was "discredited." We
questioned why, but Matthew said that he had
no choice these were his lawyers’
instructions . . . .When I was on GMTV they said pretty much
the same thing, and we have all read the
same in many newspapers.

The Curse inside Dictionaries.In the old days, 1970's, pagan was just someone with NO
religious beliefs. Today, in 2006, a pagan is someone with OTHERreligious beliefs.

Monopoly Media Manipulation by Dr. Michael ParentiLabelingLike all propagandists, mainstream media people seek to prefigure our
perception of a subject with a positive or negative label. Some positive ones
are: “stability,” “the president’s firm leadership,” “a strong defense,” and “a
healthy economy.” Indeed, not many Americans would want instability, wobbly
presidential leadership, a weak defense, and a sick economy. The label defines
the subject without having to deal with actual particulars that might lead us to
a different conclusion.
Some common negative labels are: “leftist guerrillas,” “Islamic terrorists,”
“conspiracy theories,” “inner-city gangs,” and “civil disturbances.” These, too,
are seldom treated within a larger context of social relations and issues. The
press itself is facilely and falsely labeled “the liberal media” by the hundreds
of conservative columnists, commentators, and talk-shows hosts who crowd the
communication universe while claiming to be shut out from it. Some labels we
will never be exposed to are “class power,” “class struggle,” and “U.S.
imperialism.”
A new favorite among deceptive labels is “reforms,” whose meaning is
inverted, being applied to any policy dedicated to undoing the reforms that have
been achieved after decades of popular struggle. So the destruction of family
assistance programs is labeled “welfare reform.” “Reforms” in Eastern Europe,
and most recently in Yugoslavia, have meant the heartless impoverishment of
former Communist countries, the dismantling of what remained of the public
economy, its deindustrialization and expropriation at fire sale prices by a
corporate investor class, complete with massive layoffs, drastic cutbacks in
public assistance and human services, and a dramatic increase in unemployment
and human suffering. “IMF reforms” is a euphemism for the same kind of bruising
cutbacks throughout the Third World. As Edward Herman once noted, “reforms” are
not the solution, they are the problem.
In April 2001, the newly elected prime minister of Japan, Junichiro Koisumi,
was widely identified in the U.S. media as a “reformer.” His free-market
“reforms” include the privatization of Japan’s postal saving system. Millions of
Japanese have their life savings in the postal system and the “reformer” Koisumi
wants private investors to be able to get their hands on these funds.
“Free market” has long been a pet label, evoking images of economic plenitude
and democracy. In reality, free-market policies undermine the markets of local
producers, provide state subsidies to multinational corporations, destroy public
sector services, and create greater gaps between the wealthy few and the
underprivileged many.
Another favorite media label is “hardline.” Anyone who resists free-market
“reforms,” be it in Belarus, Italy, Peru, or Yugoslavia, is labeled a
“hardliner.” An article in the New York Times (10/21/97) used “hardline” and
“hardliner” eleven times to describe Bosnian Serb leaders who opposed attempts
by NATO forces to close down the “hardline Bosnian Serb broadcast network.” The
radio station in question was the only one in all of Bosnia that offered a
perspective critical of Western intervention in Yugoslavia. The forceful closing
of this one remaining dissenting media voice was described by the Times as “a
step toward bringing about responsible news coverage in Bosnia.” The story did
note “the apparent irony” of using foreign soldiers for “silencing broadcasts in
order to encourage free speech.” The NATO troops who carried out this repressive
task were identified with the positive label of “peacekeepers.”
It is no accident that labels like "hardline" are never subjected to precise
definition. The efficacy of a label is that it not have a specific content which
can be held up to a test of evidence. Better that it be self-referential,
propagating an undefined but evocative image.